Whalum Lets His Horn Do the Singing

Tenor saxophonist Kirk Whalum says the main reason his latest album, “And You Know That!� (Tappan Zee/CBS LP), has hit the charts in both Billboard and Radio and Records magazines after being out just four weeks is the “sincerity of his music.�

“Essentially, I’m telling the truth when I play,� the 29-year-old contemporary jazz musician said by phone from a tour stop in Houston. “I can be either making money or not making money, I’m still doing what I want to do.�

Whalum said it is important to him that what he plays is devoid of artificiality.

“If there’s anything I’d like people to experience in my music, it’s that I’m a real person,� he said. “I don’t ever want to say ‘Let’s go in the studio with these silly computers and come up with this product and sell it.’

“I’ve always wanted to be me. That’s the comfortable thing about what I’m doing. I haven’t been contriving or condescending to make what has happened happen. It’s all been very natural.�

Another aspect that contributes to Whalum’s appeal is his affinity for melody. His growing up in a church family in Memphis, where his father was, and is still, pastor at the Olivet Baptist Church, was an important factor, he said, for it gave him the opportunity to hear many great gospel groups “who have an incredible approach to phrasing melodies.�

Then hearing such horn masters James Moody, Sonny Stitt, John Coltrane and Arnett Cobb, led Whalum, who plays tonight -Sunday at Concerts by the Sea in Redondo Beach, to conceive of singing through his horn when he plays.

“When I play, even when I’m improvising, I think of the phrasing as if I’m singing words,� he said. “That’s even how I write. Not necessarily imitating words, but having something that sounds like a sentence--’Does it make sense? Is it cluttered? Is it too disjunct?’--because a tune is just like a conversation: It has to have breathing room.�

Whalum said that he’s “just like the next cat,� trying to reach as many people as he can. “My priority is reaching ‘normal’ people who do, or do not, have a jazz background or an extensive collection,� he said. “But if traditional jazz fans like my music, then I’m thrilled.�

Perhaps he’s something of a crusader for jazz. “I feel there are some of us in this genre who have a mission to get more people involved in jazz,� he said, “and I think because of the simplicity and almost crossover values of our music, it’s a little easier for listeners to get into what we do than, say, Coltrane. But once they find they like contemporary jazz, they may go further. They may buy a Coltrane or (Charlie) Parker CD. And I really dig that.�

One major facet that enhances Whalum’s live performances is his interaction with his audience. “I feel that rapport is 50% of what I have to offer,� he said. “People would tell me how much they appreciated me talking about my family, my wife and kids, from the stage. That’s become part of my show.�

The eclectic Whalum cites influences from Coltrane and Aretha Franklin to Grand Funk Railroad and Yes. “It’s all good music and it’s all present in the overall picture of what I do,� he said.

Defining jazz as “interplay and improvisation, in whatever form that takes on,� Whalum feels that one must have a training in be-bop to fit into any of the jazz genres, contemporary or otherwise. “A person of the 80s, who says he’s a jazz musician and who can’t play ‘All The Things You Are’ or ‘Moment’s Notice,’ I think that person is a charlatan.�

The quiet-voiced musician began playing at 12 and moved to Houston in 1976, where he worked regularly. And though he was doing well, playing what he wanted to play, “it was a still a local scene and the wheels can spin for a long time,� he said. Then, in early 1984, Whalum opened for Bob James at a concert in Houston and suddenly his career took off. “Three weeks after he heard me, I was in New York, playing on his record, ‘Bob James 12 (CBS),’ � the saxophonist said. “That was the pivotal point in my career. People started to hear about me, and since Columbia really liked my playing on his record, getting a deal was a lot easier.�

And while the hornman may want to win some Grammys and have a gold record, he said that “even If I don’t realize any of those goals, I really have done enough. I think I have accomplished a lot. The fact that people leave their homes to come hear me is really important to me.�